Cougars vow they will get better each week

Houston players says they plan to work overtime this week to correct mistakes made in Sunday night’s season-opening 49-31 loss to fourth-ranked Oklahoma.

Photo: Godofredo A Vásquez, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer

NORMAN, Okla. — There were the typical first-game mistakes, others that come with playing for a new coaching staff in a new system, and others that to the naked eye might seem like not much has changed.

All of that may be true, but Houston coach Dana Holgorsen took inventory late Sunday night, and it started with the crimson-and-cream, fourth-ranked team on the other side of the field.

Oklahoma, it seems, can make a lot of teams look bad.

“We didn’t play great on defense,” Holgorsen said after the Cougars allowed 686 yards in a 49-31 season-opening loss to the Sooners. “We’ve got to improve. But I’m going to take it for a grain of salt who we were playing.”

After producing back-to-back Heisman Trophy winners, OU rolled out its next star quarterback. Jalen Hurts, the heralded transfer from Alabama, put on a show that not even Baker Mayfield or Kyle Murray achieved. Hurts accounted for 508 total yards, the fifth-most in school history, and six touchdowns as the Sooners pulled away from an 11-point halftime lead to begin the third quarter.

A defense that underwent a complete overhaul in the offseason, with eight new starters and switch to a four-man front, struggled to slow down Hurts and Co. Hurts was never under pressure, completing 20 of 23 passes for 332 and three touchdowns and ran for 176 yards and three more scores. UH did not have a single quarterback hurry in the game.

“I’ve seen this happen a lot against (OU), however many years in a row,” said Holgorsen, who fell to 0-8 all-time against the Sooners dating to his Big 12 days at West Virginia. “I didn’t think I would be seeing it again. Four years ago, they were good. A year later, they are the best offense in college football. A year later with a new quarterback, they were the best offense in college football. A year later with a new quarterback, it looks the same to me … they just plug people in and keep going.”

Holgorsen said the Cougars committed mistakes that are correctable. The defense, which entering the season was very much a work-in-progress, still made some of the gaffes that were commonplace last season when it ranked among the worst in the Football Bowl Subdivision. Some of the problems, though, were exposed by an OU offense that will be the fastest, more physical and talented UH will see all season.

There were missed tackles, breakdowns in coverage and the inability to stop the run (354) as the Sooners jumped out to a 21-0 lead and led by 25 in the second half. In the first quarter, the Sooners picked up 10 yards or more on 12 of 17 plays.

“We’re a team that is going to get better week-to-week,” said nickel back Grant Stuard, who posted a game-high 14 tackles. “There were guys at new positions still learning things. We’re going to continue to get better. What we did was definitely not a product of everything we have gone through and everything we are capable of.”

It wasn’t all on the defense, either. UH’s offense, led by dynamic quarterback D’Eriq King, got off to a slow start as the first four drives totaled 24 yards. The offensive line struggled at times, allowing a OU defense that had similar struggles a year ago to record three sacks and seven tackles for loss. Some of that was the result of King having nowhere to throw as UH’s receiving corps consistently was locked up downfield.

“They are a really good team,” said King, who threw for 167 yards and two touchdowns and ran for 103 yards and another score. “I’m not going to make excuses. We didn’t execute. That’s on us. There’s a lot we can learn from the game.”

There were a few positives the Cougars packed in their luggage for the trip home. They forced a pair of turnovers. Of the 408 total yards, 187 came in the fourth quarter as UH added a pair of late scores.

“We kept fighting, we kept playing,” Holgorsen said. “It’s a whole new outfit for everybody in this program. We’ll be able to learn from a lot of the things we did.

“It’s a long season. We don’t have time to reflect on anything. We have to get back to work.”

Next up is Saturday’s 7 p.m. home opener at TDECU Stadium against Prairie View A&M, an FCS opponent coming off a 44-23 victory over Texas Southern.

Even then, that may not provide an accurate gauge to exactly where UH is. That may not come until Sept. 13 against Washington State in the Advocare Texas Kickoff at NRG Stadium.

“I guarantee you we’ll work a hundred times harder to not make the same mistakes twice,” King said.

Joseph Duarte has been a sports reporter for the Houston Chronicle since August 1996. He currently covers college athletics, focusing on the University of Houston. Previously, he wrote about the Houston Astros from 1998-2002, Houston Texans from 2002-05 and the Texas Longhorns from 2005-09. He came to the Houston Chronicle as part of an internship through the Sports Journalism Institute in 1995.